Thursday's Child
by Mainframe
Summary: Meriadoc Brandybuck has just pushed his father's patience one step too far, but does the punishment fit the crime? Saradoc's decision will turn Merry's life upsidedown forever.


**TITLE:** "Thursday's Child"

**AUTHOR:** Mainframe

**BETA: **Llinos

**RATING:** PG

**PAIRING**: None.

**Disclaimer**: The Hobbits belong to J. R.R. Tolkien and are not my creation and I make no money from this or other stories involving them, this is purely a non-profit fiction of my creation in honour of the book & movies. However this storyline is mine! xD

**SUMMARY:** Meriadoc Brandybuck has just pushed his father's patience one step too far, but does the punishment fit the crime? Saradoc's decision will turn Merry's life upside-down forever.

**NOTES:** Hi everyone! No I've not died, dropped off the face of the Earth, been kidnapped by aliens or won the lottery (though that last one would be nice xD). It feels like years since I last wrote anything...oh, no wait – it HAS been years since I wrote anything! ; Hopefully I still remember how and have not made a complete hash of this story.

"Thursday's Child" is a small filler that takes place before the events in "Brandywine" and I thought it would be a nice way to ease me back into the Tolkien universe and you FINALLY get a little taster of what's been happening with Merry. As always feedback and constructive criticism are welcome!

Additional: This storyline is **NOT** cannon. It couldn't be because of mistakes made in 'Brandywine' concerning the hobbit's different ages. ; This story is set in Llinos' universe timeline with her permission – many thanks Llinos! xD

**Thursday's Child**

**Chapter 1:"Bedlam"**

_"Hah! Merry did you see his face, did you see - did you?" _

Young Peregrin Took's excited voice rang out shrill and loud in the late afternoon air, managing to scare a couple of pheasants in the nearby hedgerow into flight as well as announce to anyone within a mile radius that the pair had been up to mischief, again.

_"Yes Pippin, now calm down and do be quiet!"_ Sighed his older cousin and partner in tomfoolery, Meriadoc Brandybuck.

Pippin continued to prattle on in the same loud excited fashion as if his cousin had not spoken, Merry slowly tuned him out, he knew from long association that when his cousin got like this it was best to just let him talk himself out. It should happen by the time they got back to Brandy Hall. By then Merry was confident that he would have devised a plausible excuse as to why he and Pippin were very late in returning and why they'd skipped out on helping his father in the study with the weekly bookwork.

It was a beautiful lazy summer's day and the last things either boy had felt like doing were household tasks or being cooped up in the smial. No matter how large Brandy Hall was there always seemed to be more hobbits in there than inhabited the whole of Buckland and the heat was stifling now in high summer.

It had been Pippin's idea to sneak into Farmer Maggot's crops again, Merry had been pretty good recently and had kept out of trouble, but the first thing the young Took had wanted to do when he arrived, before even unpacking, was pay the prickly farmer a visit.

_"Come on Merry! It'll be fun, you remember what fun is, right?"_ And watching Pippin bounce up and down in anticipation, eyes shining with excitement, and a grin promising a good adventure, he'd been powerless to say no.

Pip was right; it had been fun. Merry had forgotten what it felt like to loosen up a bit since his father had been tightening his reins, having to dutifully endure endless lectures of the importance of his study and that one day he would be Master of Buckland.

Merry had heard 'The speech' so often now that he knew it by rote, but while he was expected to be the dutiful son and listen to all his father had to say, it seemed to Merry that no one was interested in what he thought; had in fact not even considered Merry's opinion at all!

Merry scowled deeply and shoved his hands further into his trouser pockets as impotent anger stirred. He was lucky! They said. He was the heir to Buckland; it was his place, his duty, his destiny! – He felt suffocated. Pippin was the breath of fresh air he'd needed, just when Merry had thought his lungs would collapse from the weight of his father and everyone else's expectations.

The Thain of the Shire never treated his son like that, in complete contrast to Merry's handling; Pippin's Father, Paladin II believed strongly in letting his son have fun and enjoy his childhood.

Merry smiled wistfully as he remembered Uncle Paladin and his father speaking about them late one night when they thought there was no one else around to hear. But, Merry being Merry, he was up past his bedtime and had been dared by Pippin to sneak food from the kitchen for a midnight snack. Never one to back down from a challenge Merry had accepted and with his arms full of swag had just been tiptoeing past Paladin's study when he'd heard his name mentioned.

He checked the corridor was still empty and, gently re-arranging his arm-hold on the food for a better grip, carefully pressed his ear against the closed wooden door and listened to his father – who'd obviously had a few drinks as his tongue was looser than normal. Merry felt his heart ache at his father's words; he'd all but called him a worry and disappointment. But his uncle had laughed off Saradoc's concerns with such carefree ease… he'd settled the conversation with words that Merry would never forget.

"You're getting old Saradoc if you truly think like that! I remember you as a lad and Merry is so much like you – it's uncanny."

"That's what worries me; I did not find it easy, Paladin, far from it in fact. I would spare him…"

"You mean to control him, to save him from himself? What nonsense are you spouting, what will you do? Stop him from being young and a Brandybuck!" His Uncle snorted into his cup before Merry heard him take several thirst-quenching gulps.

"You know what I mean!" His father snapped back. But to Merry, Saradoc had sounded more tired than offended.

"Saradoc. Let him have his fun, there's time enough for all the rest later when he's calmed down, lads will be lads after all." Then he laughed loudly as if remembering something amusing and added cheekily "Took's and Brandybuck's more so than most, eh! Remember?"

Merry heard his father chuckle and realised that his father didn't laugh very often, he wondered why he hadn't noticed that before.

"As you say old friend, as you say".

"Old friend yourself, he's a good lad you have there Saradoc. He'll buckle down eventually, don't push him too soon or he'll resent you for it later"

"Perhaps you're right."

Merry silently crept down the corridor towards Pippin's room, leaving them to their drinks and thoughts, he'd heard enough. He would try harder not to get into so much trouble and then maybe his father would laugh more.

They were less than a mile away from "The ferry" by now and, though they'd stopped briefly on their way back to eat the apples and berries filched from Farmer Maggot and take a dunk in "The Brandywine", they were making good time.

"The Brandywine" gurgled merrily as it rushed past them on their right and helped provide some relief from the oppressive heat. But not even "Brandywine" could keep the sun from drying out the land around them. The summer heat was so intense that even "The Marsh" had dried up, tall, withered mounds of reeds littered either side of "The Causeway" their brittle bleached stems reaching to the sky, causing a strange mottled patchwork effect against the green of the landscape.

_"Merry are you even listening to me? Merry!"_ Pippin's voice broke through Merry's comfortable thoughts and pulled him back to his cousin who looked at him in growing annoyance_. "I don't know Merry I finally manage to see you for the first time in ages!" _

That drew a smile from Merry, as Pippins idea of "ages" was four weeks from the last time he'd visited_. "And here you are ignoring every word I've said…"_ then a thought struck him mid-flow and he smiled and stopped walking, forcing Merry to follow suit. _"Oh, I see. So hurry up and tell me." _

Merry frowned. _"Pip, what have I told you about jumping from one thing to another without finishing what you were saying to start with! Unless you enjoy sounding like a Bracegirdle?"_

_"Merry! That's unfair, you know I've got a lot to say and besides I thought one of your Aunties or something was a Bracegirdle?"_

_"Yes, I have a Bracegirdle aunt, and that means so have you!"_ Merry grinned evilly, as Pippin struggled to work out if what Merry was saying was true and was eventually forced to use his fingers and mumbled off names and marriages before getting completely lost, he huffed at Merry adorably.

_"If I am then so are you!"_ He concluded folding his arms and pouting childishly, foot tapping against the compacted road causing small clouds of dirt to fly into the air.

Merry laughed at his cousin and ruffled his curls to take the sting out of it. "Come on Pip," he said as he turned and started walking again. "Or even I won't be able to talk us out of this one if we miss dinner".

As if on cue Pippin's stomach voiced its own concerns at the prospect of missing Honey's delicious cooking. He raced up to his cousin's side and the two quickened their pace. "You shouldn't have said that Merry now look what you've done, I'm hungry again now!"

"You're a bottomless hole Pip, you're always hungry!" Though now that he'd voiced it, he too was looking forward to dinner, after all they both still had a lot of growing left to do.

"So what's the plan?" Pippin asked idly tracking the path of a butterfly.

Merry thought about it for a while before answering, he often found that the best stories were the ones that were at least partially true. They had been in one of the shallower parts of the Brandywine earlier to cool off and their slightly damp hair and wrinkled clothes were testament to that. It would be easy to say they'd gone swimming and had just forgotten the time until they were hungry then came home.

By now they had crossed the bridge and were in "Bucklebury", walking inconspicuously through the market, Merry explaining their excuse to Pip who soaked up the information like a sponge, only asking Merry a few "What if they ask this?" questions before giving a decisive nod and smiling.

"If they ask anything we've not covered just leave it to me Pip, right?"

"Got it." They both grinned as they rounded the corner to Brandy Hall.

Merry's smile slid from his face in shock the next instant, as he watched none other than Farmer Maggot emerge from Brandy Hall's great oak door followed by Merry's father. In one smooth motion Merry grabbed his cousin, who had started to chatter about what he wanted for dinner, using his own body-weight he drove the two of them into the nearest leafy bush.

_"Merry! Just what do you think you're…"_ Pippin sputtered as he tried to blink vegetation from his eyes and level his crazy cousin with a glare at the same time.

_"Quiet!"_ The urgency in his voice must have got through as Pippin went still and watchful beside Merry before a sharp intake of breath signalled he too had seen the danger.

From under the verge they were too far away to make out anything that was being discussed but from the annoyed sharp hand gestures of Farmer Maggot and the stiffness in his father's posture Merry knew they were caught and his heart sank.

Tbc


End file.
